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The Council of Canadians Kitchener-Waterloo chapter attended the #RememberJan29 ceremony at Kitchener City Hall and appeared on CTV Kitchener News holding a poster the Council of Canadians partnered with artists to produce to remember those killed one year ago at a Quebec City mosque.

Here's a snapshot of recent and upcoming chapter actions across the country!

#BillC262
1- Kitchener-Waterloo chapter calls on local MPs to vote for Bill C-262 on February 7
2- Quill Plains (Wynyard) chapter calls on their MP to vote in favour of Bill C-262
3- North Shore, NWT chapters call for #BillC262 to be passed on February 7

The Council of Canadians fully supports Romeo Saganash's private members bill C-262, An Act to ensure that the laws of Canada are in harmony with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

We have been vocally supporting UNDRIP since 2007.

The bill will next be debated in the House of Commons on Monday February 5 starting at 3 pm EST and a second reading vote on it will take place on Wednesday February 7 (at 5:30 pm EST).

If it become law, C-262 would require a process for the review of federal laws to ensure consistency with the standards set out in UNDRIP. It would also require the government to work with Indigenous peoples to develop a national action plan to implement the declaration. And it would provide for annual reporting to parliament on progress made toward implementation.

US Donald Trump's planned visit to the United Kingdom later this year is sparking a mass mobilization against his racist and misogynist views.

Our ally UK-based ally Global Justice Now director Nick Dearden has posted, "The Stop Trump Coalition has already put Trump off coming to London twice, and we look forward to making it third time also unlucky. If he does come, make no mistake, there will be massive demonstrations and protests to show exactly how we feel about this US President, and give voice to those who he has attacked and demeaned.”

Dearden adds, “Theresa May should never have offered a state visit to Trump, particularly at a time when he’d just entered office on the back of a disgraceful, hate-filled campaign. This was completely unprecedented and in no way reflected what the British people think of this man. She has no one but herself to blame for this embarrassing situation."

The Canadian Press reports, "Former prime minister Brian Mulroney offered a spirited defence of NAFTA in Washington on Tuesday [to the US Senate committee on foreign relations]. Mulroney was warmly greeted by the majority of US senators on the committee, who were largely united in their belief that while NAFTA needs to be modernized, the deal itself had been a boon to their country and North America."

Furthermore, 36 Republican Senators have now written US president Donald Trump asking that he "keep NAFTA in place, but modernize it" because that would serve to "expand energy exports to maximize domestic energy production" and along with other measures (including his corporate tax cuts) "fuel historic growth".

The Council of Canadians has supported Indigenous-led efforts calling for the removal of a statue of Edward Cornwallis from a downtown park in Halifax.

The Chronicle Herald explains Cornwallis was "a soldier who infamously issued a bounty on the scalps of Mi'kmaqs".

This past weekend we tweeted our support of the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaq Chiefs call for the immediate removal of the statue.

Halifax-based Council of Canadians organizer Robin Tress had also planned to be at a 'Removing Cornwallis Rally' this coming Sunday (which may still happen) and participated in rallies this past summer as noted in this blog and this blog.